On Wednesday, the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) launched a new campaign titled ‘Fix Tribal Schools’. The primary objective of this initiative is to highlight concerns regarding the condition of schools in tribal areas, the shortage of teachers, and the lack of basic educational facilities.
Announcing this initiative from Nagpur, Deepak stated that a CJP team would visit tribal schools in Maharashtra (including Gadchiroli) as well as in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Gujarat, and other parts of the country to document the facilities and amenities available to the students.
The ‘Fix Tribal Schools’ initiative is being launched immediately following CJP’s ‘Fix Schools’ campaign, which aims to improve the condition of schools across the country. Deepak stated that this initiative will primarily focus on basic infrastructure. He also cited instances where classrooms designated for Anganwadi centres are allegedly being used to conduct regular school classes.
Speaking to reporters, Abhijit Deekep said, “Today, the CJP is launching the ‘Fix Tribal Schools’ campaign. The school we visited lacks a proper environment for learning. The condition of the school is such that no minister would even take their pet there.”
Meanwhile, expressing concern over the deaths of tribal students, Abhijit Deep stated that more than 590 tribal students have lost their lives in Maharashtra over the past two years; of these, over 30 students died in Balaghat alone in the last three months.
Addressing Deepak, he said, “A matter of deep concern has come to light: the issue of child deaths. Approximately 590 children have died in Maharashtra’s ashram schools over a period of two years. These tragic incidents are occurring because students are being served substandard food in their mid-day meals. There have also been deaths due to snakebites, as a lack of cots forces children to sleep on the floor. This clearly highlights the government’s medical negligence. We believe that the tribal community holds a primary right to the country’s resources.”
“Is a one-time compensation of ₹2–4 lakh—or even the provision of livestock—for the death of a child really sufficient?” he asked today.
Speaking on the implementation of the ‘Eklavya Model Residential School’ programme, Deepak pointed out that although the government has sanctioned over 700 buildings, only 477 schools are currently operational. He further noted that out of the functional schools, only 340 possess their own permanent buildings.
He further claimed that more than 2,800 posts remain vacant. At the same time, raising questions about assigning non-teaching duties—particularly election-related work—to teachers, Deepak asked, “If teachers perform election duties, who will teach the students?”
He stated, “Our goal is to improve the quality of the schools. This is a marginalized community, and uplifting their condition is our sole objective.”
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